


closer and closer still

by hyucklees



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Friends to Lovers, Long-Distance Friendship, M/M, One Shot, did yall see those airport previews in la now that's what i call love, incredibly soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-02
Updated: 2018-02-02
Packaged: 2019-03-12 13:05:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13547913
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hyucklees/pseuds/hyucklees
Summary: The best kind of love is the kind that you'd go through airport security for.(long-distance best friends!renmin and feelings that weren't there before)





	closer and closer still

“The flight's only two hours, you don't have to say goodbye to me like you won't see me for a year.” Jaemin reached up to wipe a fleck of dust from his webcam and Renjun shook his head.

 

“You've never flown international before,” he half-shouted from where he was packing his suitcase across the room from his laptop. “It'll be two hours on the plane, but an hour in security leaving and another one in security once we land and I don't care how often I speak to you in Korean, I'm gonna freeze up once anyone tries to talk to me. That's four hours of me talking to strangers and not talking to you. Plus, the time change! I'll get jet lag!”

 

“Listen, worrywart. It's an hour time difference,” Jaemin laughed as he watched Renjun frantically folding shirts and shoving them on top of each other.

 

“Don't look for a second,” Renjun said as he scanned around his bed for something.

 

“Don't look? Why?” Jaemin giggled as he playfully covered his eyes with his hand. “At this point, what do you have to hide from me?”

 

And it was true. After two years of constantly messaging and video-chatting and the occasional phone call before Jaemin’s mom began complaining about the extra charges, Renjun had told his best friend nearly everything there was to tell. 

 

“I'm packing my underwear, you pervert,” Renjun said, quickly shoving them in the suitcase as he watched Jaemin peek through his fingers. “You disgust me.”

 

“You love me and you know it.” Jaemin looked at the screen, thinking about how tall Renjun would look in real life. Of course, he knew how tall Renjun claimed he was, but that was nearly a year ago and they were both still growing. Jaemin gaze went out of focus as he imagined right where Renjun would land on his own frame, Renjun’s eyes looking right at Jaemin’s chin and his hair tickling Jaemin’s nose. 

 

“I can't wait to see you,” Jaemin mumbled, and when Renjun hummed in question, he said a quick “nothing.” He was excited to finally meet Renjun, sure, but he didn't want to seem  _ clingy _ . “You better get to sleep, you’ve got a big day tomorrow.”

 

“Jaemin, it’s 10 o’clock. If anything, you should be the one getting sleep,” Renjun said as he pulled the laptop onto his lap in bed, “it’s even later where you are. And I can’t sleep anyway, I’m really, um, what’s the word?”

 

“Nervous about how handsome I look in real life?” Jaemin said as he leaned closer to the camera.

 

“Nervous, yes. The rest, no,” Renjun smiled. “We’ve just been friends for a long time and I don’t want you to be disappointed.”

“I won’t be,” Jaemin said, softer than what he said before. “Now go to bed, I can’t have you showing up tired tomorrow when I’ve already planned out our whole first day together.”

 

“Goodnight, Jaeminnie,” Renjun cooed, laughing at the way Jaemin’s nose scrunched up at the nickname. 

 

“Goodnight, Renjun. Sleep well.” And just when the call ended, Jaemin looked at the picture on the screen and smiled like his heart might burst. He said it out loud to himself this time, “I can’t wait to meet you,” and he wondered if Renjun could hear him all those miles away.

  
  
  


Jaemin woke up at 8 A.M. and knew that Renjun wouldn’t even be awake for half an hour. His whole body was buzzing with excitement because  _ Renjun was finally coming  _ and every single bit of the past two years had been leading up to this. Jaemin thought about sending Renjun a ‘good morning’ message but was afraid to wake his friend up, so he lied in bed for a while without any urge to go back to sleep.

 

He went to the bathroom to get ready for the day and put more care into his daily routine than he ever had before. He used a bit of extra conditioner as he washed his hair to make sure that he smelled good and he brushed his teeth until his arm got tired. Renjun always said that Jaemin had a nice smile and Jaemin didn’t want to disappoint him at all.

 

By the time it was 8:30, Jaemin knew that Renjun was awake and getting ready to leave for the airport. His flight departed in 53 minutes if everything stayed on schedule which meant that Jaemin only had  hours until Renjun would meet him at the arrival gate.

 

It wasn’t enough time.

 

Jaemin picked up his phone quickly, ready to talk to his best friend after a night of anxious dreams

 

_ nananana jaemin:  _

_ good morning! sure you still want to do this? _

 

_ injoonie:  _

_ i already bought the tickets, you can’t turn me away now. _

 

_ nananana jaemin:  _

_ just checking! thought you might have cold feet. _

 

_ injoonie: _

_ nope. if i could already be there, i would be. _

_ this is gonna be awesome _

_ are you sure your parents are cool to let me stay there for two weeks? _

 

_ nananana jaemin:  _

_ i haven’t asked them yet. _

 

_ injoonie:  _

_ WHAT _

 

_ nananana jaemin:  _

_ jkjkjk don’t kill me _

_ i asked them before i asked you. they can’t wait  _

 

_ injoonie: _

_ because you never shut up about me? _

 

_ nananana jaemin: _

_ yep. i already told them about the underwear. _

 

_ injoonie: _

_ you are disgusting. _

_ at the airport, time for half an hour in security _

 

_ nananana jaemin: _

_ get off your phone and look normal _

_ and whatever you do _

_ dont say anything about all the knives and guns you packed  _

 

_ injoonie: _

_ i’ll see you on the other side, my friend _

 

_ nananana jaemin: _

_ be safe renjun _

_ i’ll be there when you land _

 

A few seconds later, Renjun sent him a Snapchat of about half of his face with the caption “CGQ ✈️ ICN” and something about the way Renjun’s eyes bunched up with his smile made Jaemin feel nervous and dizzy and a little bit nauseous. Renjun was really going to be here, right here in Jaemin’s house for two weeks and even though it was so close to being real he still couldn’t imagine it. 

 

He sent Renjun a picture back of him with a big grin and a thumbs up and he hoped that Renjun couldn’t tell that his hands were shaking when he took the photo.

 

Jaemin woke his mom up soon, making sure she was awake and ready to go even though they had hours before Jaemin had planned to be at the airport. Renjun would be there at 12:30, just in time for them to grab the first Korean lunch that Renjun’s had since the last time he visited Korea (he was only 10 then and he doesn’t remember the food anymore).

 

He peeked his head into their guest room where Renjun would sleep while he’s there. There was a crooked pillow, some dust on the bookshelf in the corner, and suddenly Jaemin worried that the whole house needed a deep cleaning before Renjun could set foot inside the house. His mind reminded him that every glimpse Jaemin had ever had inside of Renjun’s room was nearly a trash pile and that the boy would hardly mind a little dust. Even so, he walked in and set the pillow parallel to the headboard just in case. 

 

_ nananana jaemin: _

_ hey what do you want for lunch _

_ wait you’re probably a plane nvm _

_ and we’re getting korean food anyways bc you always complain that i’m not sharing mine _

_ we’ll go to the place i always order from _

_ and you can try everything that i’ve ever eaten in front of you _

_ message me when you land! _

_ i know it’ll be like 2 hours but i’m excited  _

_ so let me know as soon as you’re here!!!! _

 

By the time 11 rolled around Jaemin insisted that his mom hurry because Renjun’s flight could be ahead of schedule and he wanted to be there when Renjun finally landed.

 

“If anything, they’ll probably be running late,” his mother had said, but Jaemin refused to listen and he shoved on his shoes and stood by the door waiting for her. She offered to wait in the parking garage while Jaemin went inside to wait, but only if he took a picture of where the car was parked just in case and texted her as soon as he heard any updates about the flight.

 

Jaemin’s watch said 11:17 as he glanced at it after checking the arrival times posted on the wall over and over again. Renjun’s flight from home was supposed to land at 11:31, right on schedule. If they were lucky, Renjun would only take an hour in customs and would be coming out to meet him right at 12:30. It was just as planned, but Jaemin was still horrified that things would somehow go. He stared blankly at the arrival board while in thought, wondering what Renjun was thinking right now as they began to descend into a foreign place where his best friend waited for him. Jaemin had butterflies in his stomach even though he doesn’t remember ever getting them before and the butterflies were starting to feel more like full-sized birds flapping around inside of him so he decided to sit down where he could still see the arrival board and the welcome gate and count down the minutes until he could to see Renjun face to face.

 

Jaemin’s phone buzzed in his pocket and he shot up to look at the arrival sign again to see that the words he had checked before had now turned green: ARRIVED.

 

_ injoonie: _

_ guess where i am _

 

_ nananana jaemin: _

_ poland _

 

_ injoonie: _

_ nvm when’s the next flight to go home i miss china _

 

_ nananana jaemin: _

_ thats not even funny you jerk _

 

_ injoonie: _

_ im gonna go sit in line at customs for an hour :( _

 

_ nananana jaemin: _

_ send me your first official snap from korea _

 

_ injoonie: _

_ no i look so gross i was just on a plane _

 

_ nananana jaemin: _

_ i’m gonna see you irl in like an hour _

_ might as well prepare me for what i’m about to see _

 

His phone buzzed a few moments later and he opened the app to see a new picture from Renjun where only the top of his hoodie was in frame with that caption “ta dah!” Jaemin couldn’t help but laugh out loud at the picture making a few people around him glare for a moment. Jaemin looked up and saw that the ceiling tiles above him matched the ones in the photo. It reminded him of what Renjun would always say when Jaemin was lonely,

 

_ “Just look at the sky, and I will, too. We’re both looking at the same sky, aren’t we? We’re not really that far apart at all.” _

 

For the first time, they were closer than  _ not really that far apart _ . They were under the same sky and under the same roof and they were  _ not far apart at all _ . Jaemin could feel his heart buzzing at the thought of Renjun being so close.

 

The next 78 minutes (Jaemin had counted) were the longest minutes of his life as he sat there on a bench near the welcome gate and stared down the hall vacantly, waiting for Renjun to appear on the other side. He had texted his mom that the plane had landed and Renjun was on his way, but he felt like she may give up and drive away after waiting for so long. Renjun hadn’t sent him anything in half an hour, most likely too busy going through all the international security, but Jaemin was worried that something had gone wrong.

 

Jaemin pulled out his phone to send Renjun another message to make sure everything was okay.

 

_ nananana jaemin:  _

_ everything okay? they didn’t send you back, did they? _

 

But before he could hit the send button, the sound of loud and fast footsteps made his head shoot up just in time to see Renjun barrelling towards him with a smile that rivalled the sun.

 

Renjun thumped against Jaemin’s body with all his force from running and dropped his bag down at their side. Jaemin’s arms shot up around his friend’s torso like they knew that they were meant to be there and Renjun wrapped himself around Jaemin’s neck to pull him down closer. They held each other like they were magnetic, the bond too close for any force to pull them apart.

 

After 3 minutes and a few seconds (Jaemin hadn’t counted this time), Jaemin pulled back just enough to see Renjun there,  _ really there _ , standing right in front of him like a dream come true. Jaemin’s hands pulled away from Renjun’s waist a little too soon but his hands came up to meet Renjun’s cheeks just as quickly. Suddenly, they were kissing and they were closer than they had ever been and Renjun pulled Jaemin impossibly closer, closer, closer until Renjun’s lungs burned, longing for the air.

 

Renjun pulled back, not as much as Jaemin had before, but enough to see Jaemin’s eyes wide and worried at his own actions. Renjun laughed a little bit to himself, a low chuckle that reminded Jaemin of late night video calls and buying the same ice cream flavors so that they could share even miles away. Jaemin looked at Renjun for a moment, watching his face soften and look up into the eyes staring back down at him. Jaemin took a breath, shaky.

 

“Can I do that again?”

 

Renjun’s nod was small but it was big enough to say everything before Jaemin’s lips were on his again and the whole world felt warm and unclear at the same time. Jaemin stopped counting the minutes and the seconds all together because the moment felt like it stretched on forever and no one could convince him otherwise.

**Author's Note:**

> i hope you liked this!!! it was just something small i wrote up after seeing jaemin finally back with ot7 and finally back with renjun!!! it was mostly the height difference that got me honestly i can't believe nana's so tall now he's almost a man :') 
> 
> anyways!! talk to me about how the dreamies need to stop growing here:  
> twt: @hesmarklee  
> tumblr: @izwon  
> curiouscat: /nctdad
> 
> and comment below with your thoughts!! thanks for reading <3


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